Monday, November 26, 2012

Dave and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family! We spent Thursday with Dave's sister Karen, her husband Larry, and our daughter Carol. Friday brought Andrea and family into town, and Saturday Alison and family joined us. We ate way too much food, laughed, told stories, played games... all in all, a wonderful holiday!

I finished up the last of my skein of 4-Eva thread on this pretty little snowflake. Luckily, I received a new order of thread from Jess today with 4-Eva as part of my purchase!

Granddaughter Lily loved the snowflakes I had on hand, but had a hard time deciding which she liked best. She chose this glittery DMC thread (Classical Blends, Midnight Madness #E133), but she also loved the 4-Eva thread because of its colors, and she loved the white with lavender beads that I tatted a while back.

I wish I could capture the glittery beauty of this thread.

You might have to go look at it yourself to see if you can be inspired by it. I found mine at Hobby Lobby.

For the first time EVER, I have the day before Thanksgiving off! So, you'd think I'd enjoy sleeping in, right? Wrong! I was up at 4:30 this morning. It was too early to do much, so I enjoyed my morning coffee with Dave, helped him with a little paperwork, and began tatting. Not a bad way to start the day...

I completed Doodad Snowflake #6 using size 40 Navy Greens HDT by Jess! I do love this color combo.

Now that I have some daylight, I guess I should tackle those dust bunnies... they're taking over!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

I did it! I used size 20 Lizbeth, seed beads that looked blue at 6 this morning, but lavender at noon, and a doodad center, of course! The pattern is motif #1 from Minitats by Patti Duff.

I chose to work on it today, because I knew I'd have moral support... Tollway Tatters!

We had lots of fun sharing, tatting, and chatting. Granddaughter Eva acted as my photographer...

however, I took a picture of her so that we could get just the right angle!

Eva worked on her chains today. She's not quite ready for rings... maybe over Christmas break!

Daughter Alison...

worked on the same Minitats motif that I worked on...

without the doodad or beads. I think she did a great job!

Denise was glad to have a day to relax and tat with friends.

She worked on a doodad snowflake... sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished piece. It didn't turn out quite the way she expected, but it was very pretty!

Dear, sweet Sue Anna arrived with gifts in tow... a new Aerlit shuttle for each of us!

Sue Anna's tatting is so beautiful! I hope to tat as well as her some day! Sue Anna also shared pictures from her bobbin lace retreat in October. I was supposed to attend, but had to back out, because the middle school play was moved to that weekend. I hope to go next time!

Carol got tangled in construction traffic and arrived later than she wanted, but all was good!

She showed us a beautiful bell that she had tatted, and... lucky me... she showed me an alternate method of tatting split rings that I can do! She also gifted each of us with a new Aerlit shuttle with extra bobbins.

Marilee forgot to wear her tie dye t-shirt, but we didn't mind... she had gorgeous tatted jewelry that coordinated beautifully with her outfit!

Marilee was doing some experimental tatting, which looked fabulous, of course! Marilee gave us each a wonderful woven dish cloth filled with... chocolate! To top it off, she brought along some of her luscious threads for us to purchase. She is our favorite vendor!

Barbara was full of smiles and fun stories, as always! She showed us some beautiful bobbin lace that she made on the retreat in October. She's always so gracious... a real joy to be around!

Barbara was working with a metallic thread that kept breaking on her. With her great positive attitude, she was able to laugh about it. I think I would have chucked the thread and used something else, but Barbara kept on trying!

All in all, it was a fantastic day!

So, dear Fox, thank you for the challenge, and know that even though you were not with us in person, you were my inspiration for the day!

Note to self: for the next Tollway Tatters meeting, do not have Saturday hair!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Monica finished her Doodad Double Dare, and her finished pieces are gorgeous! Please hop on over, take a peek, and leave a comment!

Today I spent time tatting a cross for my friend Chris's mother-in-law, whose husband passed away this past week, a mere six weeks after going through open heart surgery. Chris chose yellow for her mother-in-law.

This is some Lily thread that I've had for quite some time... the price sticker says 60 cents! There's no size on the label. I'm guessing it's size 70 or 80. The pattern is "Christina" from Tatted Bookmarks ~ Cross-Shaped by Lene Bjorn.

Sue found some wonderful little doodads at her local Hobby Lobby and shared some with us at our last Tollway Tatters meeting. If you go to her blog, you can see some of the beautiful snowflakes she has tatted with them. Anyway, I went to my Hobby Lobby in search of them... no luck!

Carol decided to go hunting, and she hit pay dirt. Her Hobby Lobby just started carrying these jewelry components... yippee!

Now I need to go back to Sue's blog and look at those snowflake patterns again! Thanks for sharing your patterns, Sue!

Speaking of Tollway Tatters... we're meeting next Saturday, November 17. If you'd like to join us, please shoot me an email and I'll give you the details.

Friday, November 9, 2012

...Caribbean Sky to be precise. I tatted up another pendant in size 20 Lizbeth, Purple Dk #633 so that I could evaluate my newest purchase. I give this pretty little shuttle 5 stars. First, I love each and every color. I'm glad I have one of each. Second, I love the fact that the bobbin actually fits on the end of the shuttle. It made winding so much easier. Third, I love the clickety click click click as the bobbin moves. It's a little stiff, but I don't mind. To me, that's an indication that it will last for a long time!

I finished another Azalea Med Doodad Snowflake last night... two more to go, and I'll have a set of six. It seems to me that since snowflakes have six points, each set should have six snowflakes. What color should I use next? Just thinking ahead! ;-)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

I moved on to Motif #2 in Minitats by Patti Duff. I really like this shade of pink! Maybe it's because my mother had azalea bushes in the front yard when we were growing up in Philadelphia. I loved those azaleas! My husband tells me azaleas won't survive here south of Chicago. I may have to retire further east and/or south! ;-)

This is motif #2 as shown in the book. I think I should have made the first picot slightly larger, and I prefer slightly larger picots around the edges.

This is my second attempt with a doodad in the middle and a jump ring attached to one of the outer picots so that it can be worn as a pendant. I thought it was a little too loose, so I decided to add picots to the rings.

I like the look of the one without the joining picots better, but the pendant with the joining picots is much firmer.

Isn't it amazing how much can be accomplished with one more hour of sleep?

I've been following Lelia's 25 Motif Challenge using Patti Duff's Minitats with great interest. I've tatted quite a few of the motifs from this book, but I've never looked at it as a starting place for a challenge before.

Today, I decided to see which motifs might be adapted to work with doodads. This is motif #1, and the doodad I used worked perfectly... no adaptations necessary! I did practice frontside/backside tatting on the motif with the doodad. I only messed up once, and I was able to fix it before moving on to the next ring.

When I purchased these doodads (stock #H20-9029MB) from Fire Mountain Gems, I didn't realize that there was an indentation in the center. Luckily, I had a pink crystal that fit the indentation perfectly. I just hope I used the right glue! ;-)

The thread is size 20 Lizbeth, Azalea Med. The finished size is 1 3/4". Don't you think the motif with the doodad would make a pretty pendant?

Alright, maybe I have been watching a little too much Australian t.v. (McCleod's Daughters), but the title of this post seemed especially appropriate since I received this lovely parcel from Maureen in Australia. Maureen sent this as a thank you for sending her doodads. How sweet of her! I never ever expect anything in return when I share some of my stash. I just enjoy sharing! However, I was especially pleased to receive this little packet of goodies.

Do you recognize the bookmark? It's Karen Bickerton's "Rosy Ironwood." I purchased the pattern when it was first released, but I've never actually tatted it. The pattern was published as a fund raiser for flood relief. Isn't the thread gorgeous? It's hand dyed perle cotton, and the color is Delphinium... I love it! Those of you who have been reading Jon's blog, may recognize the name Norma Benporath, the author of Heritage Patterns. This is a lovely little publication, and I am pleased to own it!

Thank you very much, Maureen!

I'm finally feeling myself this morning... no fever! I think all the yuck is working its way out of my system. Yippee! Daylight Savings Time is over, so I know I had an extra hour of sleep last night. I was still up at 5:30, but that's 6:30 yesterday's time. I may even feel like cooking and eating a real meal today! ;-)

I started this snowflake on Friday. They usually take me two to two and a half hours to complete, so I had high hopes of tatting six or seven snowflakes this weekend. I can tell that's not to be! Still, I do have another red snowflake to send to Mom. This is my Doodad Snowflake #5 in size 20 Lizbeth, Victorian Red.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

I was thrilled when Margaret asked me to test tat her Fluffy Angel! The only perle cotton I could find was DMC No. 8 in navy blue. The pattern is very simple to follow, but I now know two things to differently next time... make much longer picots, and find a perle cotton that fluffs better! I'll do some more picot teasing to fluff this out some more, but I think the type of thread really does make a big difference.

Friday, November 2, 2012

...or maybe I should say tatting with a fever. I've been running a low grade fever on and off for the past three days, and it's really put a damper on my tatting time. I did manage to finish another snowflake, but I fully expected to have one-a-day tatted this week. Oh, well... the best laid plans of mice and men...

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About Me

I'm a retired elementary computer teacher/librarian, mother to four, grandmother to seven. I love lace. I love books. I love to collect. Now that I'm retired, I know I'll never be bored because I have so many interests, as well as the goodies I need to indulge my whims!